South Plains Financial, Inc.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the South Plains Financial, Inc.'s second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. During today's presentation, all parties will be in listen-only mode. Following the presentation, the conference will be open for questions with instructions to follow at that time. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I'd now like to turn the call over to Steve Crockett, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of South Plains Financial. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining our earnings conference call. The related earnings press release and earnings slide deck presentation issued today are available on the SEC's website as well as on the news and events section of our website, spfi.bank. Please refer to slide two of the presentation for our safe harbor statements regarding forward-looking statements. All comments expressed or implied made during today's call are made only as of today's date are subject to the safe harbor statements in the presentation and earnings release. In addition, please refer to slide two of the presentation for our disclaimer regarding the use of non-GAAP financial measures. The reconciliation of these measures to the most comparable GAAP financial measures can be found in our presentation and earnings release. I'm joined here today by Curtis Griffith, our chairman and CEO, Cory Newsom, our president, and Brent Bates. Citibank's Chief Credit Officer. Curtis, let me hand it over to you.

Thank you, Steve, and good morning, everyone. Before we get into the second quarter's results, I want to take a moment to touch on the leadership transition that we have been planning for many years. As we announced in June, I will retire as the company's Chief Executive Officer at the end of this year, and Cory will then take over as CEO on January 1, 2027. I will continue to serve as the company's chairman of the board, but in a non-executive capacity. I am so grateful to have been a part of Citibank's transformation from a small institution to one of the largest banks in West Texas, with a brand recognized across the entire state. I joined the First State Bank's board of directors in 1972 and was elected chairman in 1984 when it was a small-town institution with just $30 million in assets. At that time, we saw an opportunity to grow the bank through both organic growth and accretive acquisitions. I'm very proud to report that we now have approximately $5.4 billion in assets at the end of the second quarter. Our growth and success are an incredible accomplishment that was only made possible through the hard work and commitment of our employees. I would like to thank each and every one of them. for their hard work and dedication to the bank and our customers over the years. You are the reason for our success. I am most proud of the culture that we've created, one centered on relationships and a shared commitment to helping people succeed. Our customers and the communities that we serve have always been the key to our success. We have maintained a strong brand which continues to be well-recognized for the best-in-class service that we provide. The high quality products that we deliver and the relationships that we build. These attributes have continued to differentiate our bank from the competition and allow us to hold a leading deposit market share across our core rural markets. The bank is in a strong position and the time is right for me to retire from the management team. As I noted, we've been planning this transition for many years. Cory has been instrumental throughout this process. He has been leading our day-to-day operations and driving our growth strategy with a clear focus on disciplined organic loan growth and strategic M&A, most notably the recent successful acquisition and integration of the Bank of Houston. With Cory's expertise and dedication, we've set ourselves up for a seamless leadership transition at year end. I'm confident that he is the right leader to oversee the company as we continue to execute our growth strategy and create long-term shareholder value. I'm also going to stay engaged with the bank and with Cory as I continue to be the Citibank's Chairman of the Board as well as work as a consultant through the company. Before I turn the call over to Cory, I want to address my recent stock sale as disclosed in our press release and related 8 filing in June. Similar to our leadership transition, this sale has been a part of our long-term plan and is representative of a longstanding estate planning strategy that I've had in place. Additionally, my family has several agricultural businesses that we've made investments into over the years and a portion of the proceeds from my share sale will also help fund investments into those businesses over the medium term. Importantly, my family and I continue to be significant shareholders of South Plains and remain confident in the company's outlook. I absolutely believe that the future is very bright for our company, and I'm very pleased to see Cory officially take over at year end. Let me now turn the call over to him. Cory?